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SPS Anthelia Question, hlth and comp resp. 3/29/15 SPS Corals Fading 10/24/14 Slow bleaching and slow tissue necrosis (SPS hlth. f')
4/29/13
Reef Problems/SPS Systems/Health
3/7/2011
Excessive CO2, ph, sps
coloration 11/24/10 Coral Polyp Extension 11/23/10
SPS Polyp Extension/Growing
Corals 3/17/10 SPS Issues 09/14/09 Re: SPS Issues 10/09/09 Is a dying coral dangerous? Strange event in my SPS tank 02/18/09 Crew, I witnessed something pretty weird in my sps reef when I came home for lunch today. I was cleaning my remora pro when I saw a smokey, milky white substance coming from the back of a large live rock..The back of this rock is covered with a Macro algae(big green plant) that could be Halimeda (don't think that's spelled correctly). I've always just left it in the tank to grow assuming it would suck up any excess nitrates in the water. The milky substance looked to be coming from the white(appearing dead) part of the plant but it could have been some sort of creature under the plant that I cant see. <That would be my guess. It could likely be a spawning bivalve living in the live rock... or a snail you just can't see.> Anyways, this clouded up the tank a little and made all of my SPS retract their polyps pretty quick. Anybody have an idea of what this could be? <This does sound like a spawning. Of what I couldn't tell you exactly... but not the macroalgae.> This leads me to my next question. Are these large growing Macro Algaes "good" for my tank or should I cut it all out? <They are good. But, you want them to keep growing. Thus, you should be trimming them down on a regular basis. I would say take about 25% to 50% out at a time, wait for it to regrow, then repeat.> I always have Nitrate and Phosphate readings of 0(wonder if it's because of these Macros??). <It is quite likely the macro algaes are at least partly responsible for this.> I have trace amounts of bubble algae..other than that no other nuisance algae at all. Thanks for your help and opinion. Seth <De nada, Sara M.> SPS don't grow... Nutrient deficiency likely 2/17/08 Hello all, I have a 75 gallon sps dominated system that has been up for a year and half. It has about 80-90 pounds of live rock distributed between the display and the 30 gallon sump. There's probably 75 gallons of total water with rock displacement factored. Octopus nw-150 skimmer. 10 gallon fuge section of the sump growing Chaeto. Display is lit with two 175 watt iwasaki 15k halides and two ATI blue +. Photoperiod of 10 hours. Flow is provided by two Koralia 3's and a modded maxi-jet 900. I have about 20 sps frags (a few that could be considered small colonies), xenia, Zoas, some Halimeda macro algae, and some GSP. A purple tang, red tail tamarin wrasse, scooter blenny, pair of Percs, and five chromis (just added) make up the fish load. Current param.s: Ph 8.0-8.3 Ca: 420-440 Alk: 9 Mag: 1300 no3: undetectable po4: undetectable (via Salifert which really isn't good for phosphate, can't afford a Hanna though...) specific gravity: 1.025. I don't feed corals, only fish. Feed a cube of prime reef and formula one pellets daily. I know feeding corals is recommended by you all, but I believe in fish poop as being a great food source. No noticeable algae, except stuff that appears on glass every 2-3 days. Five gallon water changes every week. My problem is with my corals, the sps in particular. They do not appear unhealthy, they have great polyp extension. For the most part, the Acro's and digis have decent color. The problem is, the corals get in my system, grow for a week or two, then stop completely. I have had many frags for almost 7 months that haven't budged. My caps are extremely pale and some Acros are as well. My Zoas are also pale and kinda halfway closed sometimes. What could be some possible reasons for this? <Mmm, the most glaring defect is the absence of food. You state you have zero phosphate? All life needs some HPO4... You don't list chemical filtrant use, but... do you? I would cease this, or at least cut it back... perhaps take up some purposeful feeding... a brand of Phytoplankton likely... DT's or such> I have a few theories that I couldn't find anything about online really. Maybe you could discuss them with me. I know its not the basics (lighting, flow, basic param.s). 1. Phosphate. I rid my tank of phosphate via Chaeto, water changes (ro/di), and Caribsea's Phosbuster. <Oh, here it is> I know phosphate really inhibits calcification so I was thinking maybe there is high phosphate (Salifert would detect it about .5 at least, so couldn't be higher than that.) that I can't detect. Phosbuster supposedly binds to phosphate and turns it into dust (or something along those lines) that can be skimmed out. Perhaps some of this "dust" is affecting growth. <Perhaps . Much more likely it is absent... and essential> 2. Potassium. I don't test for it, not many do, but i hear a lack of it can stunt growth, and make Monti caps, esp. red ones, very pale. This seems like it could fit, but I found mixed feelings about potassium on the web. <Potassium is rarely rate-limiting in captive aquatic systems... hence the paucity of discussion, products sold...> 3. Lack of nutrients. Perhaps my tank is "too clean". This would be a nice thing to hear because, as an sps keeper, clean water is an important goal. Perhaps I should feed more and let my trates climb to 5 or so. This seems like it would fit with the lack of color in some corals, but not sure about growth. <I do agree with this> Those are the possibilities I came up with, but please let me know what you think about them and others you may have. I appreciate it very much. Have a nice day! -Mark <Remove or vastly cut back on the chem. filtrant use, add more foods of use... Perhaps an iodide-ate supplement weekly, along with the small water change. Bob Fenner> SPS Disease? 01/31/09 Hey guys! How is everyone? I am in desperate need of your help once again. I have a Yellow Bottlebrush that may or may not have a disease. It's slightly browned out, no tissue recession, and seems to have some white cotton like growth near where the polyps usually are. Is it some type of fungus? It's not much, just near the front of the coral. <Any chance this is just coral mucus with some debris caught in it?> It's kind of like leftover mushed white food being caught in the polyps. I wish I had pictures but it's in the back of the tank, I don't have a good enough camera to take pictures. <Hmm, can you borrow one? A pic would be really helpful.> The back has stayed yellow. Every other coral seems fine. This an SPS dominant tank. Here are some of my tank specifications: Tank size: 90 gallons with a 55 gallon sump pH: 8.35, Ca: 390, Alk: 3.5, Phosphates: not detectable, Nitrate: 2.5 <Nitrates are high, but you know that... and might not be the "problem" here.> Temperature is controller with an AquaController that fluctuates between 78.0 and 78.3. Lighting is the Solaris G series (250w equivalent) Any help is greatly appreciated! <I'm sorry, but what you're describing just doesn't sound familiar to me. Please do try to get a picture of it... maybe borrow a friend's camera. Cheers, Sara M.> RTN Theorizing 12/24/08 Hi Crew, <Hello Jason. Minh at your service.> It's been a long time since I've had to write you with a problem. That's good! Unfortunately, one of my beautiful and large Birdsnest just underwent rapid tissue necrosis (RTN). It happened frighteningly fast; in less than a day the grapefruit-sized coral went from healthy to half dead! <I'm sorry to hear about your loss.> While my particular cause is unknown (I suspect encroaching mushroom corals, but unsure), I noticed something interesting. The death progressed along the branches of the coral, not simultaneously. In fact, it spread from base to tips (oldest to newest growth). I understand this is a common pattern. In an attempt to save as much as possible, I broke off branches that were still alive and discarded parts that were totally bleached. <Rapid Tissue Necrosis (also known as apoptosis) is a cellular reaction in corals initiated by various stresses such as bacterial infection, temperature, UV radiation, allelopathy, etc. In this particular case, the encroaching mushroom is a very capable culprit.> More interesting: the frags that had some dead tissue still on them proceeded to degrade in the same manner. Those that were comprised only of living tissue appear OK. <If the tissue on a fragment is undergoing apoptosis, it will continue to degrade until the fragment is dead. I would suggest for you to quarantine any remaining healthy fragments in a separate tank to isolate the cellular reaction. This would allow for the highest survival rate of your Seriatopora guttatus while reducing any risk of exposing other healthy SPS corals to this condition.> This is very puzzling. If this condition was caused by a biological or chemical agent attacking the coral flesh, one would expect that it would either be localized (killing a small area) or all over (killing patches at different places on the coral simultaneously). The fact that the progression moves very predictably along the branches implies, at least to me, that it is innate behavior of the organism, not the result of attack. Perhaps it is an evolved survival mechanism; a last-ditch effort to abandon the skeleton and grow anew somewhere else on the reef more amenable to the coral's health. In our tanks, of course, that would not happen thanks to lots of factors, but possibly on the reef? This may explain why the frags without dead patches survive: the signal to eject never reaches them, so they persist. Do you know of any research in this regard? Thoughts? <Although I have seen broadcast reproduction occur in a similar manner, and some rare instances in captivity, the behavior of tissue necrosis appearing in a predictable band pattern indicates a classic case of apoptosis. This cellular reaction could be triggered by allelopathic attack from a neighboring soft coral. Further reading on this subject is available in an excellent article by Eric Borneman, "The Coral Health and Disease Consortium: New Information on Coral Disease." Link: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-03/eb/index.php.> Thanks! Happy Holidays! Jason <Likewise to you and yours. Cheers, Minh.>
Toxicity in sps reef -- 07/16/08 Hey guys, just had a quick question regarding a vexing issue I have been having. Long story short, the phosphate remover I was using <Mmmm, am compelled (by myself natch) to make a comment that by and large I'm not a fan of hobbyist use of such... unnecessary, better means...> caused an issue with the water's supersaturation point (despite mg of 1400 and frequent water changes, the max at which I could keep alk and ca kept dropping to the point where I could only get alk of 7 and ca of 360. I did extensive reading, and through much trial and error, finally determined it must be GFO (other reefers have reported the same) <Mmm, for browsers... iron oxide hydroxide: A nice piece here re: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/rhf/index.php> , I removed it, did a few large water changes and my sps started coloring in colonies I hadn't seen color in over a year! <Ah, yes... some HPO4 is absolutely essential to all life we're interested in> My issue is that the low alk levels brought on the onslaught of Cyano, I run a very clean system, let frozen foods thaw first before use, have a killer skimmer, no sand beds, very little detritus, heavy oxygenation, run ozone, change carbon weekly, use Purigen. My ph is 8.4, alk 12, ca 400, salinity 1.026, no ammonia, trites, or trates but I cant seem to kick the Cyano. It built up over a week so I put a filter sock on the output of that tank and cleaned the tank up. <Good> Within the next few days, sps that had been coloring started losing color again, but have good polyp extension. Some zoas are not opening up either. I have read posts by people saying that when they removed Cyano it caused problems for them even killed fish! <Mmm... one must proceed... cautiously here... BGAs can cause havoc... coming and going> Is it possible the removal of Cyano is stressing out the sps, <Yes> or is it more likely they are just stressed from the changes in alk, ca, mg. <Could be both, either> I have made changes slowly, and use baked baking soda (that's why ph is 8.4). <Mmm, not by itself... sodium bicarbonate> My alk has been over 10 for a week and yet I am not seeing coralline growth. Outside of a few water changes, do you have any recommendations? <Mmmm, "punt"... keep changing water, stop using iron hydroxide... All else reads as fine, should be fine in time. Bob Fenner> Browning SPS -- 03/27/08 Many of my SPS that are toward the back of the tank are browning on the side facing the back and many are brown on the lower half or third of the SPS. Is this normal because light is not reaching the bottom of the SPS and maybe there's not enough light at the back of the tank? <<There are many things that can cause corals to 'brown,' but based on your statements, yes, I think it is likely due to a lack of light intensity/spectrum in those areas>> Is there any way to compensate for this or is this normal to only have color where light shines? <<'Compensation' would have to come in the way of providing enough light from all angles (a common problem in most hobbyist's systems), to include a reflective substrate (Aragonite sand). Moving the corals more toward the centerline lengthwise in the tank should provide better color on all sides'¦adding more lights front-to-back and/or upgrading to better reflectors would also probably help>> Thanks very much for all your help. <<Happy to share. EricR>> Can red slime treatment affect SPS? Coral Death 1/8/08 Gentleman, <Hello> Recently I treated for red slime with "ultra life - red slime remover" in my 125 gal reef tank (after reading some of the forums...I know this was bad but this was the LFS recommendation). <Not good in my opinion.> I think I know the answer to the question, but ...have you heard of this product affecting SPS corals? <Yes, is an antibiotic and can negatively effect the whole tank. See here for more http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bluegralgae.htm .> I had two SPS corals slime over about 48 hrs after the treatment and completely die within 12 hrs of that. All water parameters are on par (now and then) <numbers please> and I did an immediate water change which seams to have salvaged one tiny tip of one of the corals. All other SPS corals currently appear OK for now. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks John F <More water changes would help here, and figuring out what is fueling the Cyano bloom and eliminating this will help control it in the future. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/cyanocontrolfaqs.htm> <Chris> SPS Boring Algae... Ostreobium
12/5/07 Hey guys just a quick question, <Hi Tom, Mich here
with a quick answer.> I have run into a few pieces of sps (cultured)
that have that sps boring algae, but I can't seem to find any info
on it. <Sounds like you have Ostreobium.> Obviously there are
probably no known means of treating it other than fragging above
unaffected parts, <Actually the best means of controlling this algae
and preventing its spread is by limiting excess nutrients and reducing
nitrate and phosphate levels. Some thoughts on how to do that here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/nutrientcontrol.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/algaeconMar.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/avoidingalgaeproblesm.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/scottsh2ochgart.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/refugium.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/maralgae.htm The nitrates feed the algae and
the phosphates limits the growth of the coral skeleton. Diadema urchins
may also be useful.> but in captivity is it known to spread to other
healthy colonies as well? <Fortunately, Ostreobium is slow growing,
so if you can get ahead of the nutrients you may have success.>
Thanks, <Welcome! Mich>
Untimely demise... SPS... 10/16/07 I suppose I will start by telling you a bit about our system. We set up in late December of last year, for the second time in our lives. Main tank is 50 gallons, with a 29 gallon sump/refugium. We are running a Red Sea Prizm Pro skimmer. There is about 50 pounds of live rock in the system, substrate is Florida crushed coral and live sand. We moved cross country in September, and lost (literally lost it) a small frag (some type of SPS, the guy wasn't sure what it was and I forget what we decided on now) with the exception of a small piece, which is fine now, and our Mandarin, which perished sometime after the move. We have in the tank: a large Condylactis anemone, a Scolymia (pardon my spelling), Trachyphyllia, Montipora, Finger coral, Xenia, Goniopora, 2 heads of candy cane coral, a recovering frag of Acropora, a large featherduster worm, various small polyp things, sponges, and micro life (pods and shrimps and spaghetti worms etc). Fish are a Yellow Tang, two Yellow Tail Damsels, and a pair of Solomon Island Percula Clowns. We acquired a small Regal Tang after our move, which succumbed to Ich shortly after, it was in our main display tank (yes, bad idea I know). It has all been peacefully co-existing for quite a while now, even the anemone LOL Wow all that information and I finally hit my point.. We have had a sudden and unexpected loss. We HAD a small frag of birds nest coral. Very beautiful, bright green polyps, full and vibrant. Yesterday morning, it was fine, polyps extended. Later in the afternoon, I looked in the tank to see about half of it was stark white skeleton. This morning, about 3/4 of the coral is gone, nothing left but stark whiteness, where there was vibrant life. Nothing else seems affected. What is left of it is kind of hanging on the skeleton, so I assume it is going to slough off like the rest. The ONLY things that are a little out of the ordinary for our system are the Ich treatment (Kick Ich, supposed to be invert safe) and we added a little baking soda yesterday to help buffer the PH/Alkalinity. That is something we have done lots of times. I do not know the current parameters on the testing right now, but could get them if that proves important in this case. Do you have ANY idea what could have happened, and if we can expect any more losses like this? <<Veronica: Sorry for your loss. SPS corals can be very tricky and frustrating. You don't say how long you had the coral frag. Here are some possibilities and things to think about for the future. 1) SPS corals are not very tolerate of sudden changes in parameters (might have been the baking soda). 2) Something up current could have chemically attacked it. 3) This frag may have had a disease and/or parasite that took a while for it to do it in. 4) None of the above and it was just an act of God. Almost everyone that has SPS has posted stories similar to yours. The best we can do, is to try to figure out what might have gone wrong and learn from them. Captive frags tend to be hardier in our tanks than wild frags. Best of luck, Roy>> SPS disease 7/25/07 Hi crew, I have test everything, Ph, calcium, nitrate, nitrite, KH, magnesium, etc everything is perfect as far a testing. I have been away for 4 days and on returning found a few bleached SPS. Since than I am finding 1 or 2 starting to bleach. On inspecting the SPS, each one that bleached, the flesh was slimy/jelly like. <Sounds like dying tissue... how fast/slow is this happening? Is the slimy/jelly like flesh all over the entire colony or just the parts that are dying? It might also be coral mucus, but it's difficult to say without a photo.> I have never seen or read this on SPS before but have noticed and read this on LPS and soft corals. All other corals (LPS and SOFT CORAL) looks fine and so does the SPS, everything looks normal. <While you were away, did you have the lights on a timer? Was anyone (or anything) adding top off water while you were away?> I need to identify the cause. Before this started happening I did remove 2 football size Acro's to frag but unfortunately they fell on the floor but I did place some of the pieces in my tank which might have caused the problem by something that might be on the floor. I have done a 20% water change and added more carbon. <I doubt it was something on the floor unless (maybe) if you had just cleaned the floor with cleaning agents that might have gotten on the coral when you dropped them. Though if this were the case, one would think that your other corals would be suffering as well (since the cleaning agent would have contaminated the water too).> Is this some sort of disease but I hope not? <My guess is that 1) something went wrong while you were away, 2) some parameter you're not thinking about is off (salinity, temp, etc.) or 3) the Acropora have a parasite of some sort that you're not seeing. Acropora are more sensitive than most other corals. There might be something wrong with your tank that the other corals can tolerate that the SPS can't. SPS are also considerably more vulnerable to parasites than are other corals we keep in aquariums.> Your help is much appreciated. <Sorry I can't help you more without more information. All you can do is try to think hard about what could have changed since you left. Also, do look very closely at the coral (use a magnifying glass if you can) to see if there are any parasites on them.> thanks Mohamed <Best, Sara M.> Re: SPS disease -- 08/27/07 Hi Sara, <Hi> it happened slowly, the slimy/jelly like was on the parts that was dying. Unfortunately I did not take out pictures. <My first thought was brown jelly disease. However, brown jelly moves very quickly and is usually more of a symptom of some other underlying problem. It also would seem strange in your case since you haven't added anything new to the tank. It would just seem odd to get brown jelly on several corals just out of the blue (though I suppose it's possible). In any case, if this is not going away, you might consider fragging off the dying/infected parts of the corals.> Thanks Mohamed <Wish I could help more... good luck. Sara M.> Acclimation of New SPS in 135 Gallon Display 6/20/07 Hello WWM Crew, <Scott> I wonder if I can get some advice from you regarding the recent addition of two SPS corals into my system. I have done an extensive search on WWM and checked my SPS reference books, but I am still unsure as to how to proceed. For your reference, an overview of my system (running for about a year now) is as follows. Display: 135 Gallon Tenecor Acrylic Aquarium (72" W x 18" D x 24" H) with 1" fine aragonite sand bed (vacuumed frequently) and approximately 120 lbs of Live Rock. Recirculation rate is about 1300 GPH. Refugium: Ecosystem 3616 Mud Sump with active Chaetomorpha and roughly 15-20 lbs Live Rock. Two large overflows with Durso standpipes add roughly 30 gallons "fishless" volume. The mud sump has many amphipods visible to the naked eye. Lighting: Three 150 W HQI pendants (12K) and Four 160 W VHO (1 AquaSun, 2 Actinic White and one Actinic). Lights are on timer sequence with MH's running 8 hours/day <I'd increase this daily light run to at least ten hours, likely 12...> and maximum overall wattage (including VHO's) does not exceed 720 W. Filtration: Eco Reef CS 135 which runs continuously and produces about one cup (very dark and smelly) skimmate every 2-3 days. Also employ four (1 cup each ) bags of activated carbon in the in the sump which are rotated/replaced one bag per week. Chiller: 1/4 HP Aqualogic "drop in coil" type <Okay... though am not a fan of the drop in exchanger tech.> Water Parameters Temperature: between 81-82 F Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate not detectable per Salifert test kits pH - 8.4 Calcium - 400 ppm, Alkalinity - 9.5 dKH Inhabitants Fish: Flame Angel, Bicolor Blenny, Purple Firefish, Sunrise Pseudochromis, Neon Goby Inverts: Two Cleaner Shrimp, Blue Legged Hermit Crab, Blue Mushrooms (Discosoma) and a Tuxedo Urchin LR Hitch Hikers: Zoanthids, Star Polyps, Unknown Soft Blue Polyps, Unknown Encrusting Stony Coral, assorted sponges and small clams. Macro Algae: Assorted small Halimeda and Caulerpa (removed manually). No significant nuisance algae to speak of. Now, back to my current situation. The new SPS corals, a (2" x 1") Green Plate Montipora and a (1 1/2 ") Stylophora are both aquacultured and were purchased from a high quality LFS system where they were living under a 400W MH Mogul Pendant (roughly two feet away and under about 8" of water). I did a quick check on the "bag water" and found they were living in the following conditions: Alkalinity 9.2 dKH, Calcium 425 ppm, pH 8.3 and Salinity 36 ppt). I used water from my display to house the corals in a 10 gallon quarantine tank with an "aged" sponge filter and a 150 W HQI pendant. I changed 1 gallon of water (taken from the display) daily and fed 1/5 ml of DT's Oyster Eggs every couple of days. During a two week quarantine period, the color of both specimens held up quite well and I saw some polyp extension on the Stylophora to varying degrees (normally not all the coral but maybe over 30%). To my eye I could not see the polyps on the Montipora. <Not easy to make out...> Over the two week quarantine I had difficulty keeping temperature constant and noticed evidence of deteriorating water conditions (gradual decline in polyp extension and an increase in brown algae) so I decided to introduce the corals into the display after only two weeks. <Good, this is what I would have done also> I acclimated the corals to the display water and when I put them into the display I noticed an immediate (and rather dramatic) improvement in polyp extension on the Stylophora - to my untrained/inexperienced eye it looked like the coral was responding very well to the new conditions. Both corals were placed (roughly one foot apart) about one third of the way down from the top of the water. I adjusted the returns on the display so that the both corals were near the intersection of two returns to get a random movement of water around them, but not "blasting" them with flow. For feeding, I relied on some help from the refugium and also from the fish feedings (Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef flakes and frozen Mysis soaked in either Selcon of Boyd's Vita Chem) and a dose of DT's Oyster Eggs a couple of days back. Unfortunately, my initial enthusiasm was short lived. It has been about five days since I put the corals into the display and have not seen ANY sight of polyps on the Stylophora since. Its color appears the same (a nice reddish maroon) but the coral is evidently not feeding. <"These things... take time"> Also, the color on the Montipora turned from an attractive deep green to a dull mustard brown, which I took to be a reaction to the brighter lights and crystal clear water (lots of carbon filtration) in the display. <Maybe> Two days ago I backed-off on the lighting by reducing the run time on the HQI's by two hours (I plan to phase this back in over a period of a couple of weeks if all else goes well). By my eye the appearance of the Montipora looks about the same or possibly slightly better. Incidentally, I also see some evidence of growth on the Montipora as the rough "fragged" edges of the coral now appear softer and have a light pink color. These are my first SPS so I have no personal experience to draw from at this point. May I ask you opinion on the following. Do you have any thoughts on why the Stylophora does not seem to be interested in feeding? <Likely still just acclimating to the new digs/conditions> Would you concur that the browning of the Montipora is probably due to a sudden shift in lighting? <This or "general" stress, being moved about... Can/may very likely re-color in time...> Can you suggest anything I need to correct or adjust at this point? As always, I very much would appreciate any advice you folks can provide. Best Regards, Scott <Mmm, well, I'd increase the light time regimen as you and I mention... and likely do little else. Your system water quality is likely fine, the gear sounds very nice... I'd be patient at this point, not move much of anything about, start making a list of what else you'd like to add... attend a marine/reef club meeting or two... Let time go by. Bob Fenner> Re: Calfo's new book, now SPS nibbler 6/18/07 Thank you very much for the reply. I had ordered it through the readingtrees address but had misplaced it. I will try there. I have greatly enjoyed your books as well. Right now I am dealing with a very frustrating problem in my reef. I have an SPS nibbling critter that I cannot identify. He only attacks at night, and almost specifically at Acroporas. What ever it is will take about a dozen polyps off at a time. Not so bad with larger corals, but really havoc on my smaller starters. Any ideas? Thanks, Jon laCour <I'd get out a small flashlight (with a red filter would be a bonus) and look during the night, perhaps set some types of traps (covered on WWM) to try and catch/ID the culprit... Could be a crustacean, worm, mollusc, even a fish... BobF> Re: Talkin' bout the Midnight Nibbler, honey he is one of those... 6/18/07 Thanks for the advice. I was fortunate enough to catch the culprit last night. I looked like a large commensurate <Heeee!> crab that had come in on an Acroporas that turned bad. I picked the whole coral out and then snatched him off. I hope that is the end of it all! Thanks, Jon <Ahh! Good sleuthing! Thank you for this follow-up. BobF> Natural predator for parasites... Shades of an SNL skit...Could You be More Vague? 3/21/07 Hi crew, <Hi Mohamed, Mich here.> Is there a predator that will feed off parasites including those nasty slugs that feeds on corals especially SPS? <Mmm, not sure what parasites and which slug you're referring to here. Can you provide the scientific names or at the very least the common names? It is impossible to help otherwise... just a little too vague.> Thanks <Welcome, -Mich> Mohamed Re: Natural predator for unnamed parasites 3/21/07 Hi Mich, <Hello again Mohamed> No, I do not know the scientific or common names. I'm referring to them in general, all parasites and slugs that eat SPS. <Most parasites have specific predators, so there really is no panacea. The best thing to do would be to dip, where appropriate and quarantine all new corals to hopefully prevent any parasites from entering your display tank. More here and related links in blue: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/quarinvertfaqs.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/flatwrmfaq2.htm > Thanks <You're welcome. -Mich> Mohamed SPS Bleaching Problem 11/01/06 Hi crew, <Greetings, fellow reefer> I have a BIG, BIG problem with my SPS. Every 2 to 3 weeks I lose an Acropora or Montipora from bleaching. My water parameters are in par, I do my water changes every 2 weeks and carbon once a month. All the Montiporas and Acroporas have excellent polyp extension and without any signs of a problem. I have found a snail on 1 of the SPS but I have not noticed anything on the others. <Most likely harmless algae eater> I have tried to frag some that started bleaching but without any luck. <Usually the case. Once they are bleaching, it is often hard to save them> Is there a procedure that can be followed to help the SPS or prevent it from happening? Please advice, I hate to lose anymore. Thanks Mohamed <I would watch for fluctuations in water parameters. Also, check your bulbs (if MH) for cracks in the outer sleeve. Something isn't right. Good luck. Cheers! -- Dr. J> Re: SPS bleaching 11/5/06 Hi Dr. J, <Seems to have left the room> Thanks for the reply. What are the harmless algae eaters? <See WWM re...> How do I get rid of them? Will a UV help? <Possibly... in indirect ways, by improving general water quality> I do a complete water test once a week and water parameters are constant. I use T5's with sunlight from noon for +-4 hours. The SPS where growing at an excellent rate before this problem which is happening for 2 months. Thanks Mohamed. <You have read on WWM re SPS Systems, Health...? Bob Fenner> New SPS Frags... Long Shipping... What To Expect? - 12/31/05 Hi all... <<Hello>> as has been stated by many, you have an awesome site, no fluff, all info. <<Thank you>> I have read much, but not all of the site, haven't been able to find an answer. <<ok>> I just acquired some Acro frags 1 yongei and 2 tortuosa (sp.?). <<Correct>> Thanks to shipping problems they were in transit about 40hrs. <<Uh oh!>> They arrived white, little or no apparent color, no polyps yet. <<Expelled their zooxanthellae...or worse...have complete tissue loss.>> My fears about ammonia in bags and alkalinity of tank water led me to introduce them to the QT tank after temp adjustment. <<Smart>> I'm acclimating lighting using vinyl screen layers. <<Smart again>> On intro to QT tank frags had filaments of slime but no other indications of life. <<Not unexpected...>> Don't expect a miracle here but what if anything should I expect from these frags if water parameters, lighting and flow are optimal, which I think they are. At what point should I give up on them in your opinion. <<Mmm...both species of coral have quite visible polyps, if you don't see any evidence of these after 48 hrs. I think you can assume the worst. You might also try viewing the frags under some magnification (jeweler's loop/magnifying glass) to see if you can determine if there is any flesh on the skeleton.>> This is my first of many cracks at SPS so would like to not overreact. <<You're not overreacting...40 hours in transit/bleached condition is cause for concern.>> Steve <<Regards, EricR>> SPS TURNING YELLOW 01-01-06 Hello I just bought 2 SPS coral for my 55 gallon reef with 260 watts power compact ( about 5 watts per gallon) a canister filter, protein skimmer,2 power heads, and a heater, about 30 lbs live rock, 40 lbs live sand. Now for the fish I have a yellow tang, maroon clown, mandarin goby, and bullet goby. My corals are a finger leather, yellow polyps, 2 mushroom rocks, Ricordea, open brain, cabbage coral bubble coral , 2 SPS on the same rock, and star polyps. My inverts are a sponge, emerald crab, camel shrimp, coral banded shrimp, t. gigas clam, bubble tip anemone,6 astray snails, and a large turbo snail. Also I have a medians hair algae, Chaeto ,needle algae. My water tested perfect. <Sounds like a very full tank.> My new SPS coral that was a green brown color is now turning yellow. The other day I had to catch a clown fish and I took down the rock work to catch him. Is this because stress did I kill it or is it new symbolic algae because lighting please help I love this coral thanks for the help. Sorry this letter was so long. Please excuse the mis-spelled words I'm 11 years old thanks for the help love your web site. <First, let me thank you for the compliment. As for your question, you may have three situations going on. The first situation could be chemical warfare in your tank. To remedy this you will need to add carbon to your tank. The carbon will also clear organics from your water making the lights more useful for your coral. The second possibility is that you may be witnessing bleaching. If your coral is bleaching you will need to upgrade your lighting to keep that coral or remove the coral to a friend's tank until you can afford to upgrade your lighting. The final situation you may be witnessing is; the corals may be adjusting to your lights and will actually color up to a more natural color. This situation is usually found more in tanks with very high watt lighting and pristine water conditions. Travis> Chemical Warfare? 4/6/06 I mentioned in my last email that my SPS started showing signs of stress. Their tips started dying. I have a doubt about my anemone, do you think that it can secrete allelopathic substances that can affect the SPS? <I believe that it is entirely possible, which is why I discourage mixing corals and anemones in most systems.> I looked up the archives but I am not sure if this is right or wrong. <I think that the theory is right.> It has been in the tank for 6 months now and once in a while, I lose one or two of my SPS for the same reason, either dying tips or bleaching , but mainly the tips begin to die. <Could certainly be allelopathic competition, or some lapse in environmental conditions.> Do you think it is the anemone? The water chemistry is great, calcium is above 400 and heavy skimming all the time with Euro-reef skimmer, water changes every 2 weeks !! I am confused and I need your help. Thank you. P.S. It is a red, long tentacle anemone. Regards, Ramy Ontario, Canada <Well, Ramy- in the absence of other possibilities (such as environmental lapses), the only theory that I have is that the anemone could be an issue, unless you're looking at some type of disease affecting the coral. My advice is to "specialize", and keep only the coral or the anemone...Hope this helps. Regards, Scott F.>
SPS problem !! 3/29/06 Hi Bob, <Ramy> I had my 150 gal running for a year now, housing only SPS and clams. Everything is fine so far except that one of my favorite Acros started showing the following : The growing tips started to break and are covered with algae. <Yikes!> I can see the polyps extending but not as much as they used to be. I haven't moved this piece from its spot for more than 5 months, same lighting conditions, great water values , nothing else is wrong. So what could have gone wrong ???? <Very likely "just" the unnatural make-up of aquariums at play here... Changing the flow (increasing greatly), introducing some smaller fishes, perhaps switching out some of the live rock... will steer your system back toward where you want it. Bob Fenner> Regards, Ramy, Ontario, Canada. Please Help! -- Mg damage to corals? Sclera. health - 2/28/2006 Hi Crew, <Greg> I hope I am worrying needlessly, but I am concerned I might have an unknown coral predator or a water parameter problem with my 180g reef. My main concern is one Acropora with approximately a pea-sized exposed skeleton near the base of one branch and ½' of skeleton exposed on one tip. A brown mucous-thread-like substance covered the Acropora, with dead tissue trapped in the bottom of this mucous net. I siphoned-off the mucous and dead tissue, cut off the dead tip of one branch, then dispensed a tank water + Lugol's solution over the remaining bare skeletal areas. I just fear that this area of necrosis might be spreading. This Acropora is placed approximately 8 inches from a 7' Crocea clam (which occasionally produces a similar-looking mucous-like 'net' near the byssal opening). So I am unsure if the Acropora coating was from the Crocea or if it was produced by the coral. <Mmmm> Two days prior to this happening I did move a rock that was attached to this Acropora and one tip was broken off the Acropora. This has never been an issue in the past as new flesh would cover the exposed skeleton within a week and new branches would form. Possibly this initial stress is what led to the current tissue necrosis. Current water parameters: Temp=77°F, Salinity=1.024, pH=8.1, alk=3.2 meq/L, Ammonia=0, Nitrite=0, Nitrate~1ppm, Ca=440ppm, PO4={below meas. Limits}, Silicate=0). I did also increase temperature on my heaters from 76°F to 77°F a few days ago. I performed a 32g water change at the same time. A little history'¦ About two weeks ago, I noticed that all of my Montiporas were becoming much lighter in color. I was not overly concerned because they have lightened and darkened in color several times over their 2 years in my tank and they continue to grow well. Although water parameters have always remained within acceptable ranges previously, my salinity dropped from 1.025 to 1.022 <This is a huge difference> over the course of a day just before the Montiporas changed color a few weeks ago. A snail had stuck my makeup water float switch in the 'on' position for a day, flooding my 100g refugium and diluting the water with RO/Kalk mixture. <No fun> My pH measured 8.2 so I was only concerned about the sudden change in salinity (makeup water flows at only 10gpd). I removed 10 gallons of tank water and slowly added 10 gallons of very high salinity water until tank salinity measured 1.023. The following day, I repeated this procedure until the salinity reached 1.024. All fish, corals, clams, other inverts appeared to be unstressed so I assumed that worst case, this might have induced a temporary color change in the Montiporas. <Takes a while to show... weeks, months> Since my alkalinity and pH have always remained near the low end of acceptable (pH=8.0-8.1, alk=2.5-3 meq/L) despite using a Kalkwasser reactor for top-off and the addition of Na2CO3 and NaCO3, I bought a Mg test kit to determine if a low Mg level was partially responsible for low alkalinity (Ca=440 ppm). Mg measured 1,140 ppm <Close enough...> so I mixed 10 teaspoons of Seachem Reef Mg in 1 pint of RO water and dripped this into the pump intake in my refugium. An hour later I repeated this. According to Seachem's label, I would have needed to repeat this process a few more times to reach the desired 1,300 ppm but I noticed another Acropora (near the return line) with mucous-like threads waving from its polyps. I was concerned that I might have changed the Mg level too quickly so I made no further changes to the tank for the next two days. <Good> I did continue to noticed these 'mucous threads' waving from the Acropora polyps at times. This is a different Acropora than the one that is currently displaying tissue necrosis. Could dosing Mg in this way cause tissue necrosis in Acropora? <Possibly a factor, not likely "the"> This particular coral is not in direct flow of the pump return line. One Montipora has completely bleached (although polyps are visibly extended) but I did move this coral to a lower light area of the tank when it initially began to bleach. All other corals (4 Acropora, 1 birdsnest, 1 open brain, 1 pineapple coral, hammer coral, zoos, star polyps, mushrooms, Alveopora) appear to be doing well. Even the Acropora that had previously produced the mucous-like threads now appears normal. All inverts appear unstressed as well. What should I do about the Acropora with the tissue necrosis -- is there a way to reverse this spread? <You likely have> If the necrotic area continues to grow, I assume I should frag the coral to save the remainder -- correct? <An approach. I would move this colony to another system, or even shallow, brightly lit sump first myself> Do you think this in contagious (e.g. should I be doing anything to protect the other corals in my tank)? Unfortunately I do not have a picture to send yet, but I can follow-up when I return home tonight if needed. Thank you in advance for your help!!! --Greg <I doubt you have a pathogen at play here. Very likely the bit of trouble you've observed is/was due to the change n spg... I would not over-react here. Bob Fenner> Re: Please Help! -- Mg damage to corals? - 3/1/2006 Bob, <Greg> Thank you so much for your input (or at least putting my mind at ease) -- and for taking the time to read my email. I will continue to watch this Acropora, but no additional skeletal areas appear to be exposed tonight. <Good> I refer all of my fellow reefers to the WWM search for answers to their questions. You and the WWM crew offer an invaluable service to aquarists! --Greg <We're very glad to share. Bob Fenner> Question: I have a Table Acropora that is getting algae growth on the tips. I'm afraid it is going to get suffocated. Is there any way to clean it? I have placed it where it is in stronger current, but so far it looks the same. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Bob's Answer: Rick, look to the possible cause(s) of a lack of metabolic competition with the algae (let's say, rather than means of chemically, physically or biologically removing it). Do you have sufficient light? How much of what sources? Can you add more, leave it on a bit longer? Raise the specimen toward the surface? How about the nutrient make-up of your water. Do you purposely add chemicals to your system? What on what basis and regimen? And a big "Sherlock Holmes" kind of clue-ing; what other organisms do you have that ARE doing well? Some current is of course desirable, but I doubt if this is the root problem. Question: Hi Bob, about a month ago you helped me out a lot with a question about my reef tank. I just wanted to say thanks, and... I have another question. I have a 60 gallon reef tank with 2 175w MH and two 55w PCs. I was under the impression that would be enough to sustain SPS corals. My SPS corals are alive and thriving but all have turned some form of brown. I have tried high placement as well as low placement but it doesn't seem to affect the coloring. I examined my MH bulbs and discovered that the are 175w 5500K bulbs. Could this be the reason that my SPS corals have turned into a fine golden brown? I would like to return them to their previous glory but I am stumped, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Bob's Answer: Hey Ian, thx for writing back, and glad to hear things are going better. Yes, a higher Kelvin temp. would help, but this may well not bring back the color in your impugned SPS', and their loss may well not have been related to lighting issues in the first place... A full answer must be very lengthy... but the handling and duration of transit of the animals before your procurement, their source (esp. depth), nutrient background (developmentally), and "disease" (i.e. trauma, infectious and parasitic) may have caused the animals to lose their zooxanthellae that produce/co-produce the apparent desired pigmentation.... Keep studying my friend... Take a look at the Aquarium Frontiers on line archives... much good input there that is not stated expressly, but deals with this issue. Acclimation of SPS corals Bob, I was wondering the standard for acclimating SPS corals (Acropora, birds nest). I keep reading that they need lots of light but to put them lower in the tank to start, is this correct? Do you acclimate corals of this nature just like you would a fish? Thanks, M.D. >> Wow, good questions... Yes, unless I knew for sure that the new SPS I was getting had been fully-exposed to strong lighting in the day to days ahead of my receiving them, I would start them deeper, or off to the sides of my lighting, especially if I were using metal halides. And no, I do get around the tropics quite a bit in the trade, advising (I guess this is an okay word, but it's more like helping, having dinner and diving parties...) friends/associates on acclimation/holding/shipping protocols. The current SOP for new SPS includes using water of a slightly lower spg (a few to several thousandths) of sea/freshwater (to facilitate infusion) that's been pH adjusted (generally just with sodium bicarb.), and a good dose of iodine (up to 0.10ppm) and some addition of hexose sugar (isn't this starting to sound like trauma medicine?)... and some folks throw in the added expense of Aminoplex soln. For ten, twelve minutes as a bath, then into quarantine or holding systems... Bob Fenner, who is telling Keeping SPS corals <Lorenzo Gonzalez here, standing in for Bob-on-Safari...> I'm having trouble maintaining SPS corals in my 40 gallon reef. Inevitably, they do well for about 10-14 days and then suddenly perish. I have several fish (tang, 2 Chromis, 2 clowns, Firefish, neon goby) and a variety of soft corals that all do well. 175W MH/2-32W power compact actinic, CPR BakPak, good water flow, 4 gallon water change once a week, Kalkwasser mix for top-off water, etc. I've tried Montipora, Acropora, Pocillopora... none have lasted. What can I do? <Were those captive cultured frags? Cultured frags are much more amenable to these typical captive/hobbyist conditions. Are you actually testing the calcium and alkalinity produced by your Kalkwasser routine? Your lighting sounds quite sufficient...> Too many fish? <Only if they mess up the water faster than 'the system' and your water changes can keep up... -Lorenzo> Thanks, Steve Re: Keeping SPS corals Thanks for responding, Lorenzo... I've tried both "wild-caught" and captive cultured frags. Ironically, I have an Acro (maybe millepora?) in the tank right now... it's the only SPS left that hasn't "shed" all of it's color/polyps and gone bone white, and it's a wild-caught specimen. I've tested for calcium (>400), but not for alkalinity. If the calcium level is good, is it still possible that the alkalinity could be screwed up? and what would I do to fix it? (for the record, I have about a 3" bed of aragonite... I hoped this would provide for a satisfactory buffer...?) <Nah, your alkalinity is probably fine. If your pH is totally stable/predictable, your alkalinity is typically not suspect...> Also, having a problem w/ the red/brown slime algae on the substrate and live rock, and green algae shows up on the front glass viewing panel like clockwork everyday. I do have good water flow and a CPR BakPak w/ a Rio 800, but neither of these efforts have kept the pest algae away. Any more thoughts? <I've had BGA/'red slime' choke out a couple of corals that I didn't keep a close enough eye on, particularly pipe organ, other 'reddish' corals. I assume you've tried all the usual remedies, i.e.. lighting (yours is more than sufficient), circulation, competition (Caulerpa is great for this), and finally RO water? -Lorenzo> Thanks, Steve Wants to get it Bigger Hi guys. <How goes it, Michael here this evening> I'm hoping you can help me out. <Try my best> Here's a quick tank profile: 90g/20gsump/20gref 2x250w 10k MH 1.025sg 79F. <So far so good> I'm in college, so most of my stuff is diy. <I think we're all poor as students :|> Here is my problem: I have been keeping my tank for 2 years now, 1 year in a 55g before I had to move, which I will have to do again this summer (not far- not that that means it wasn't a pain in the ass the first time). I only lost one snail during that move! <Nice> Anyway, I have been keeping a little of everything, but few SPS. I have had good success with almost every coral I have purchased, and I even had a frogspawn return from a skeleton that had been dead for six months. <Have to love corals' recuperative powers in a healthy system> I only have a few (8, mostly small) fish. Salinity and temperature are kept almost perfectly constant. My fish seem happy and soft corals, mushrooms and polyps reproduce fairly rapidly. I even have a neat pink sponge that has covered almost all of the undersides of my LR. I also have 3 clams- I have had my squamosa for about a year. <Are they all Squamosas?> Anyway, things seem to be right, but the growth of my coral (mainly SPS) seems to be dramatically slow. I have a brown Acropora frag that I have had for over a year, and it has grown maybe a few millimeters. sad, huh? It's stuck out its polyps every single day and appears healthy, but there is little growth or encrustation at all, with some bottom-up recession. <When a coral appears healthy and extends polyps as usual, but doesn't actually grow much, something is deficient. Probably not enough food or not enough light. Acroporas are very light hungry corals (for the most part, there are many species in the Acroporidae genus), much more so than your mushrooms, as these species are separated by at least 60' of water in the wild> I have a purple tortuosa frag that I have had for maybe six months- it hasn't receded, but the growth is almost nonexistent- definitely unlike the time lapse sequences of acros that I have seen. I have been using tech cb for quite some time almost everyday as well as Lugol's and I infrequently (~once a week) add other stuff like magnesium, trace elements, strontium etc in small quantities. I add a little plankton or black powder twice a week or so. Recently I purchased a ph probe to see if that was where my problem was. It was around 8.0 during the day, but I have brought that up by drip dosing Kalk steadily to around 8.2/8.3 and I'm shooting for 8.4. Sorry about how lengthy this is. Should I be adding more calcium/buffer or feeding much more plankton? <Well, your calcium levels should be around ~400 ppm if not closer to 450. Acroporas are very calcium needy, being stony corals. As for plankton, it will do them absolutely no good. If you've only been feeding plankton, this is probably why you're not seeing any growth, as they're slowly starving. Acropora sp. are very hungry, and need zooplankton to survive and flourish> I thought that most of the corals were predominantly autotrophic. <Not nearly, they most definitely need feeding> I am keeping the SPS frags in the highest flow areas of the tank. <Probably a good idea, but really depends upon the subspecies> I have an orange capricornis frag that is very healthy looking and has shown decent growth (~1.5" in 5 months):(. Also, I have had various xenia colonies, which in my tank seem to move very rapidly across the rockscape (with little growth) and then they either stay the same size and look good or wilt. I know I'm doing something right because I have had my mandarin for 1.5 years and a leopard wrasse for one, a colt coral that I grew from a small piece and now have to prune, and my tank is pretty cool looking (but I have nightmares about some aquarium hotshot coming in and catching all of the problems I know I have). If you need anymore info, just write me back. I want a COLONY, not a one year old frag. thanks so much, Hunter Leber <What all are you feeding? What is your current lighting? A bit more info might help us get to the bottom of this. M. Maddox> SPS Polyp extensions Hello: <Hi Brian, MacL here with you today.> I have a few questions I am hoping you can help me with. First of all my tank: 265 gallon 3 175 20,000k MH's 4 96 watt PC's 2 actinic and 2 white light 100 gallon sump with a mega protein skimmer 30 gallon refug with 2 types of Caulerpa and a PC 7 power heads 500lbs live rock 3in aragonite 1/2hp chiller WATER 1.024 380 cal 10dkh alkalinity 0 nitrate 0 nitrite 0 ammonia Bionic and Kalk daily LOTS of tangs, fire shrimp, cleaners, hermits, emeralds, 3 red bubble anemone and more livestock all reef safe. I have 40-5- diff SPS colonies and frags. A few SPS frog spawn brains etc. I have 2 softies one is huge but not waxy now. The bottom line is the SPS have not been in the tank long and I am getting little polyp extension. <Could be a few different things. Could be the spectrum of the lights, the depth of the tank and the positioning of the corals in the tank. You don't say how tall your tank is nor do you say how deep the corals are positioned. The 175's may not be penetrating as deeply as you need in the water. I would also be a little concerned that your calcium is a bit low for SPS. How frequently do you do water changes? Good luck and let me know if we can help you in any other way. You'll find numerous FAQs on the site about how to raise your calcium and keep your tank in ionic balance. MacL> Tank has only been up 4 months. Is there anything I can do to help. Brian Re: SPS Polyp extensions Thanks: <Hey Brian, MacL here again> The tank is 30 inches tall. Most of the SPS are within 12 inches of the surface. I am doing water changes every 3 weeks. I will check my calcium again to ensure accuracy and proceed with raising it. The big question I have had is that some of the colonies are doing fantastic and others are not. Any ideas why? <Could be a million different reasons, like the lighting they came from before they went into your tank, or some stress that they received, something in your tank eating on them,> Could this simply be due to the tank only being up for 4 months? I did allow it to cycle for 5 weeks before adding any livestock. <A tank does take time to age and become stable and when its unstable its hard on corals. I didn't add any corals into my tank until it was over a year old because of that although I do know people who have been very successful with newer tanks but they constantly work to achieve that stability of calcium, ph and basics in the tanks.> Brian SPS RTN !!! <?> 8/9/05 Hi Crew, <Ramy> Great site indeed, up-to-date info for sure !! I have purchased an Acropora frag a couple of weeks ago and the base was kind of white, or missing any colouration. <Typical...> After 3 weeks, the size of the white part is still the same, meanwhile, the rest of the frag is very healthy and shows very nice polyp extension. <Good> My question is, is there any chance that this unhealthy part can spread or do you think that it will recover. I have very good lighting, excellent water circulation and all the other corals are doing just fine. Is it true that RTN can spread over a few days and kill the whole piece ? Thank you. <... this whitish area is not likely RTN, but just resultant die-off from the actual fragmentation process... RTN can indeed spread rapidly... I would not worry here. Bob Fenner> SPS Corals Turned Brown - 05/17/05 Hi, I'm Bill. <Hi, I'm Eric!> I'm relatively new to coral reef aquariums. I've had much good luck with my two 50 gal tanks. One thing that I'm noticing is that the brightly colored corals turn brown or darken relatively quickly after introducing them to my aquarium(s). <Not uncommon.> I have some idea that this has to be a lighting issue. <Possibly...likely a response to a lack of acclimation to the lighting...but other factors are probably contributing as well.> I have a 250 watt 14k metal halide that I thought would brighten ...or at least retain these colors. <This color temperature is very popular due to its blue appearance though my preference is for something closer to the 10K range, especially for shallow (relatively speaking) water SPS corals.> The lights are on from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm ...too much? <Nope probably fine, ...Although I would actually recommend increasing the photo-period by an hour a week until you reach the 12 hr. range which more closely replicates the tropics.> I'm hesitant to decrease the amount of light out of fear that the corals will not receive enough light. <Agreed.> All other water parameters quality are constantly monitored and kept well within range. <Curiously enough, letting your nitrates rise to around 5ppm can actually help/increase coral coloration.> Thanks for any help you could suggest. <Bill, coral coloration is a result of many factors, not just lighting. Do take a look at your water flow and feeding practices. Strive for an absolute minimum of 10x tank volume for water flow (more is better), and be sure to feed those fishes well. SPS corals are voracious predators and need to feed. And one of the very best coral foods is what is processed by your fish!> Bill <Regards, Eric R.> SPS and ich Hi Bob, <Ramy> I always quarantine any new fish before introducing it to my reef tank. My dealer has a closed system where he keeps SPS and fish. Some of his fish show some ich, so how can I prevent transmitting ich when buying corals from the same water that has the parasite ??? <Run them through a prophylactic dip/bath as proscribed for both groups, on WWM... and the quarantine period... Bob Fenner>
SPS Bleaching part 2 9/19/05 Thanks for the advice. When you say to reduce the light- would reducing the amount of time the lights are on work? This would be easier for me as my lighting is in a rather fixed position. <Shortening the photoperiod is one way to do this. Newly introduced specimens can be acclimated to your very strong light by shading them with pieces of window screen or other shading material for a week or so.> I guess the second easiest thing to do would be to rearrange the reef, but I would rather reduce the lighting time if there is a chance that would work- also, by your description, it looks like bleaching is the culprit, not RTN. <This is good news! Bleaching is much more recoverable than "RTN". FWIW... I also ran 400w MH lamps for a while, and had problems with quite a few corals bleaching. It is simply too much light for many corals, even "SPS". Acclimating the corals slowly to the light and perhaps shortening the photoperiod will help. Best Regards. AdamC.> Corals out of water - 9/14/05 Hi Mr. Fenner! <Paul here to help> Thanks for the last reply! I only forgot to ask about SPS and the water line. I know one should initially place corals 4" below surface and that is what I did. My Pocillopora is now noticeably growing. When I do my weekly water change it gets very close to the lowered water line. Within months I wont be able to do water changes without having part of the coral emerged. So is it bad to have a SPS coral (Pocillopora and Montipora species) partly out of the water for (at the worse) 30 minutes each week? <OK. Well, I have the exact same issue with the exact same corals. The short answer is for a short time, I would say I haven't experienced any issues with bleaching or color problems or anything of that nature. Any longer than that though, I would have to think you might see some issues. Now all this depends on the water replacement, health of the coral, lights on or off etc. I use raw natural seawater from Monterey Bay, I feed my tank a mish mash of Mysid shrimp, Cyclop-eeze, enriched brine, and other stuff, and I do try to water changes with the lights on but not always. Of course there are many more factors that I am sure could be an issue and/or might affect the corals ability to be above water for a short time. For some corals in the surf zone this isn't an issue, but the corals you mention aren't technically surf zone corals. Try and see. Let me know what you find. ~Paul> Dominique |
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